Finding Friends in Fever
by riotousorder
Summary: When class 1A managed to have a look inside Todoroki's wardrobe, they were in for a surprise. There was nothing but shirts and trousers of different colors; the types that were suitable for a stroll in an early autumn morning but not for the freezing winter or blistering summer. At Todoroki's dismissal as something to do with his Quirk, they failed to notice the building fever.


'Todoroki-kun, aren't you cold?'

'No.'

* * *

'Man, aren't you hot in there?'

'No.'

* * *

When class 1A managed to have a look inside Todoroki's wardrobe, they were in for a surprise.

There were nothing but shirts and trousers of different colors. One or two light blue jackets dotted on the left side but that was it.

Clothes suitable for an autumn morning stroll in the park. Hardly optimal choices for the blistering hot summer or biting cold winter.

Todoroki explained between stifled yawns and subtle glances to the futon that he could regulate his own body temperature, therefore had no need for seasonal clothing before ushering them out so he could sleep.

Class 1A all agreed on one thing when they gathered back down the communal area.

Todoroki's quirk was the coolest!

* * *

Todoroki found himself boxed on his left side on movie nights during winter time and on his right side during summer classes though it was a mad dash to be the first to reach his right side. The unlucky ones that couldn't be the first settled for ice-creams and cold bottled water, giving the lucky one and Todoroki, who was not sweating a drop, sting eyes.

So when Hagakure, the lucky one of the day sitting with her back to Todoroki's right side, commented on how warm his right side was, it garnered the attention of everyone in class.

Todoroki's control over his quirk was uncanny.

Between finding a five-leaf clover and Todoroki messing up the control of his quirk, you have a far better chance of finding a field of five-leaf clovers.

A vague 'Sorry' came from Todoroki and Hagukure's sigh of contentment sent the rest of the class back into an envious mob.

That was the first sign of trouble they failed to notice.

* * *

'Midoriya, do you know where Todoroki is?' Yaoyorozu's clear voice made him jump in his seat and consequently drew a diagonal line over his hero costume sketch.

'Uhm, no?' He hurriedly closed the notebook. Not that he didn't want her to see, he was just uncomfortable with showing his hero notebook to anyone other than Uraraka and Ida. He flustered a little when she raised an eyebrow but steeled his nerves to ask. 'Why do you ask?'

 _Why ask_ me _?_

'Out of everyone, you are closest to him so I thought you would know,' Yaoyoruzu answered his unasked question first. 'It's rare to see him miss a class.' She mumbled mostly to herself but Izuku caught it any way and had to frown.

'I don't know. Sorry.' Izuku offered a helpless smile even as he dissolved into a muttering tirade. It was true. Todoroki was probably the most diligent when it came to classwork, just right after Iida. No one could compete with Iida when it came to school work any way, the guy was on a different level. It was unusual rather than rare for Todoroki to skip class, especially hero class. There must be something serious enough, something more important than training to keep him occupied. But what could that possibly be? He was kidnapped? Possible but a little far-fetched considering they all were staying at UA dorm with over-the-top securities. Then he must not be at the dorm then. If so where could he be? _No, that's not true_ , Izuku backtracked. He definitely saw Todoroki this morning in the kitchen area with a glass of water before his attention was drawn back to Uraraka's floating omelette.

Sometime during his mutter, Yaoyoruzu must have left, but he was too occupied to paid her any attention.

* * *

His mind whirred with different scenarios as he hastily jogged back to the dorm. Next class was modern literature and also the last for the day so he wouldn't be in any serious trouble. Todoroki was more of a concern now.

Something happened to his family? Maybe it was his mother? Or Endeavor? Something pissed his father off enough for him to come to UA dorm to drag his son back home to train until all his bones were broken and blisters dotted his body? Oh god no please let it not be Endeavor. Todoroki and his father relationship might be more mutual respect than outright hatred now but who knows what might happen with Endeavor's temperament.

Please let it not be Endeavor.

Please not Endeavor.

 _Anyone_ but Endeavor.

 _Please not Endeavor!_

 _'_ Todoroki!' Izuku swung the door to the dorm open with enough force to send the reinforced quadruple-layered glass rattling against the wall and called out as loud as his voice permitted.

Silence greeted him. Cold that had nothing to do with Todoroki's quirk slowly wrapped around his heart.

Izuku bolted to Todoroki's room. The door was unlocked but no signs of a break in could be seen. Todoroki was nowhere to be seen. Scouting every floor also gained no result of his whereabouts.

The kitchen area was empty as well. Izuku checked every cupboards and cabinets, even in the fridge and under the dining table.

He found himself back in the common room and was searching in All Might's contact in his phone with shaking fingers when an out of place sound, too quiet to be heard over the pounding of his heart, caught his attention.

Izuku took a deep breath to calm his frantically beating heart and listened.

There it was. A gasp, then a second later, a soft, pained 'no'.

It was coming from the gap between the sofa and the wall.

Izuku carefully made his way over. 'Todoroki-kun...?' He hesitantly said, not wanting to spook his friend. His thought started to drift into the lines of why Todoroki was hiding behind a sofa for he was definitely hiding from something.

All he got in response was a muffled cry of pain.

The cold around his heart that had started to melt seconds ago was returning faster and planting its root deeper.

Izuku had never, _ever_ , heard Todoroki made such a pitiful noise.

Something was seriously wrong.

He peeked through the gap and found Todoroki sitting with his back against the wall, legs drawn up and head resting on the knees.

It looked like he was sleeping but his breath was coming out in short gasps, a mixture of steam and hot breath. A sheen of perspiration covered his face and neck.

Izuku carefully sneaked in a hand to feel his temperature and had to smother an alarm yelp.

His forehead was as hot as scalding water, even his right side felt as hot as a car left under the summer sun for hours. Had Todoroki been hiding his fever for days? Not to mention he even came to class yesterday! A fever as severe as this didn't just develop overnight!

Todoroki shied away from his touch and tried to scoot further away but ended up toppling over.

Without fanfare, Izuku pushed the sofa away and kneeled down besides his friend.

'Come on, Todoroki, we need to get you to Recover Girl.' He said, swinging an arm around Todoroki to support him up, tears gathering in his eyes of fear and frustration.

Todoroki put up a pitiful fight, ice trying to form before immediately melting away and steaming up. 'No..., please..., stop...' He mumbled, prying weakly at Izuku's hold.

'Todoroki, please, let me help!' Izuku all but begged, desperately adding more force to his hold to still his squirming friend.

'No..., no...' Todoroki shook his head weakly. 'Stop... Please... Father…'

Izuku's hold on his tears faltered and that was all it took for him to cry now. Todoroki was too delirious to tell the difference between reality and dreamscape. For now, he was not at the US dorm anymore but back to the horror and fear his childhood held.

'You are _not_ with your father, Todoroki. You are _safe_.' Izuku bit back a choked sob and said forcefully. That was the point he needed to drive home first. 'I'm Midoriya Izuku. And you are going to get better, okay? Please, _please_ , just let me help.' Izuku rocked them from side to side, not knowing anything better to help.

Todoroki's movements quietened down. He finally cracked open an eye, the blue one, to blearily blink at Izuku. The intelligence it usually held now lost to the haze of sickness and delirium.

It took Todoroki three minutes to recognize him.

'Mi-dori-ya-?' He said brokenly, gasping for air when he finished.

'Yeah, it's me.' Izuku smiled encouragingly through his tears. 'I'n going to take you to the infirmary now, okay?'

Todoroki bobbed his head in consent and Izuku flew into action. He had Todoroki in piggy back style and was out of the dorm in a matter of seconds. His friend felt like a sack of burning coal on his back, incoherent mumble hot against his right cheek.

Todoroki was a proud person and for him to accept help with no deliberation; it spoke volume how severe his fever was. Izuku just hoped he hadn't arrived too late.

* * *

The news about Todoroki staying in the hospital was quick to spread around class.

Izuku found himself the center of worried questions and a crying Hagakure. Under any other circumstances, he would be dying of shame right on the spot. Right now he was just too tired to care.

'And I asked him to cool down.' Hagakure cried in earnest, wet sobs echoing the solemn room.

'There, there Hagakure-chan.' Mina padded her back understandingly, wiping away the tears with a tissue. 'We can all visit him tomorrow.' She added brightly.

'About that-' Izuku shifted in his spot uncomfortably. 'We can't.'

His statement was met with varying degree of bewilderment.

'What do you mean by that?' Iida asked, doing that small chopping hand motion that told how nervous he was.

 _'Patient request.' Recover Girl had said when Midoriya tried to step back in after she finished her treatment half an hour after he brought Todoroki in._

'He needs as much rest as he can, so I think it's best that we not disturb him.' He half-lied, twisting his scarred hand.

'You are absolutely right, Deku,' Uraraka accepted his explanation easily. 'Oh, I know!' She exclaimed for the whole class to hear. 'Let's organize a welcoming party when Todoroki is released from the hospital!'

Her suggestion was met with a round of delighted 'Yes' and a watery one from Hagakure.

As the girls moved away to start on their planning, Kirishima released a forlorn sigh.

'Even our strongest can get a fever.'

'That is exactly why we need to dress for the season and pay attention to our health!' Iida pronounced with wider, more prominent arm chops. 'Summer is the season of fever and heatstroke. It is important that we consume enough water to stay hydrated. I suggest we take turn-'

No one was actually listening to Iida anymore since they were all busy staring at each other in muted realization.

'Speaking of 'dress for the season', do you remember the state of Todoroki's wardrobe?' Kaminari asked everyone on a whole, voicing their exact same thought.

* * *

Two days later, Shouto was cleared to return to the dorm with instruction to drink a cup of water every hour and lay off of exercising for at least a week. As if he would listen.

He could have left the day before but a disapproving scolding from Recovery Girl convinced him to obey just so he wouldn't go deaf in the ears.

The dorm was devoid of anyone's presence, which was strange considered it being a Friday night.

Maybe they all needed to be somewhere else. Definitely not a villain though, Shouto would have been the first to know. Endeavor made it his life purpose to drag Shouto to every villain crime scene to show him how stupid he had been for refusing to use his left side.

As he waited for the kettle to boil, laughter and talking started to fill the hall way and they all stopped dead at the sight of him leaning against the countertop in the kitchen.

Asui was the first to break the silence.

'Are you feeling well, _ribbit_?'

'Yes, a bit dizzy but I am better now.' He opened the top right cabinet where he stashed his tea leaves. 'Thank you for asking.'

'Oh no, you need to rest more Todoroki!' Uraraka said, undeniably happy that he needed to look to make sure his hearing was not deceiving him.

Why was she happy at the fact that he needed more rest?

And it seemed she was not the only one. All the girls looked incredibly happy and delighted.

Something was definitely going on and he was not privy to it.

'Come now Ice Prince, let's get you back to your room.' Hagakure and Mina sudden appearance at his back did not startled him at all. Not at all.

'Ice Prince?' He echoed, so caught of guard that the two girls could push him up three flights of stairs and into his room easily.

'Well then, off to bed with you.' Mina sang happily, skipping away down the stairs.

'Wait, I still need to get the tea-' Shouto added as his wit came back to him.

'No worries, someone will bring it up for you!' Mina called out from the stairs as the sound of her steps faded away.

It took him a minute to realize he only heard one set of footstep moving away while there had been two that escorted him up.

'Can I help you with anything?' He directed his gaze to the half closed door where he could see a flash of brown shorts in mid-air.

'Uhm.' She pushed the door open wider and stepped in, fully facing him. 'I'm very sorry that I asked you to use your quirk that day.' She sounded guilty and judging from the way her clothes move, she must be bowing.

Shouto's mind took a while to remember what she was referring to. His brain was irritatingly slow tonight.

Ah. That. Frankly, he had forgotten that _that_ had taken place.

'It's alright. I didn't mind. You are not at fault.' He was awful at understanding emotions and even worse at displaying them. He hoped he conveyed his forgiveness well enough this time.

'You sure?' She asked hesitantly, rising up from the half-bow with what would have been a quizzical look if she had not been invisible.

'Yes.'

'Oh. Uhm, thank you.' Her socks and shoes twitched around. A sign of nervousness. 'I'll leave you to your rest, Todoroki.' She closed the door to his room and quickly walked away.

Shouto stared at the door for a moment then made a beeline for the table, taking out assorted notebooks and pens.

He shook his head a little to clear away the dark spots from his eyes.

He truly hadn't gotten back to full health.

No matter. As long as he didn't do anything physically exerting, he should be fine. And catching up on schoolwork could hardly be considered physical activity.

* * *

An hour and a half later, Shouto was forced to put down his pen as words swam around his field of vision.

He had had fever a few times before but never this terrible. Most of the time he just slept them away. He tried to did the same for this but apparently it had not work.

Maybe a cup of tea would help, he thought as the world turned topsy turvy as he tried to stand up. Tea would be very appreciated now.

He padded over to his wardrobe to look for a pair of more comfortable indoor slippers.

And had to close it at the sight that greeted him.

Had the fever gotten to his brain?

No, not plausible.

But he just saw some eye-watering neon green. In his _own_ wardrobe. And he absolutely despised everything with color that bright and revulsive and made sure to never own a single piece of clothing in that color.

Shoutouts hesitantly opened it again, ice ready to freeze whoever was hiding in his wardrobe.

No one was inside but that did nothing to explain the state his wardrobe was in.

It was definitely more rainbow-y than the last time he checked. And with more variety of garments.

He spied black leather jacket, mustard insulated trousers, some plain looking jeans shorts, hoodies, sweaters, polo shirts, and even a rather expensive looking woollen long coat. The neon green belonged to a pair of mittens. All with tags attached but the price had been removed.

Most certainly not the work of his stupid old man.

It could have been Fuyumi but she knew better than to get him anything of bright colors.

That left only one other person, and knowing him, he would be down in the front yard training, on the way to the kitchen.

Perfect. He could get his tea and then started interrogating.

Someone had some explaining to do.

* * *

'He is coming!'

'What!? No, not yet. I'm not finished!'

'Quickly, he's on the first set of stairs!'

'Just shove it in the cabinet or something!'

'Eeeehhhh!?'

'Fucking leave it and hide behind the fucking chair, nerd!'

'Ouch, unharden your elbow, you're poking my ribs!'

'Sorry.'

'Why do I keep attracting small pieces of paper?

'Ah, that's probably me.'

'Everyone, remain quiet!'

'You are the only one being noisy, _ribbit_ '

* * *

The kitchen was dark when Shoutouts came in but he could hear muffled sound coming from somewhere. Probably they were watching horror film and needed all the darkness they could have.

He flipped the switch and suddenly he was showered in light, sound and confetti. So much that his brain could not process anything and the first thing that came out of his mouth was 'I need my tea.'

Surprised snorts appeared amidst the gathering of his classmates and he soon found himself nudged, pulled and sat down on the central sofa with blanket draped over his shoulders and a hot cup of tea in his hands.

He took a sip to bring his mind back into operation.

Banners saying things like 'Get well soon', 'Welcome back!' hung from the ceiling across the floor-to-ceiling glass window. Food and drinks covered every available space of the small coffee table and Shouto suspected that there were a lot more waiting in the connected kitchen and maybe even Satou's room.

It didn't escape his attention that all the food and drinks were rather very Japanese and heavily focused on cold soba and tea.

He looked around, noting his classmates' eager faces and guessed it was time he put his two cents in.

'It's nice. Whatever for?'

Collective exasperated sigh made Shouto wanted to retract his words, but knowing his socially-stunted self, his second attempt would only be catastrophic so he kept quiet.

'Well it's a get well party. For you.' Sero explained from his perch on the back of the sofa, taking the initiative.

'I get that but why?' Shouto hardly considered his wellbeing the reason, in and of itself, for a celebration.

'Just fucking get it over with, you half-and-half bastard!' Bakugou (his presence here was a surprise to Shouto) kicked out a chair from the kitchen table and explosively sat down, ignoring others' disapproving stares.

'What Kacchan was trying to say is that we are very glad that you are well again, Todoroki-kun.' Midoriya chimed in hastily, doing damage control before things got out of hand and dissolved into quirk fight.

Shouto was at a loss for word. What should he say to that?

'Uhm, thank you?' It came out more of a question than an expression of gratitude but Midoriya beamed anyway.

'Let's eat everyone.' He announced happily, diving for two mochis right off the bait and dropped one into Shouto's cupped hands while biting into the other, coughing as he got too much powder in his airway.

—

The rest of the night passed by in a blur. Shouto vaguely remembered staring in silent wonder as Bakugou dumped spoonful after spoonful of shichimi into his bowl of soba, all the while spitting curses at Kirishima.

He himself got offered a lot of food, his portions were always noticeably larger than everyone else.

As the night dwindled down into small talks and desserts, Shouto slunk away from the crowd to make himself another cup of tea. He passed Midoriya and tapped him on the shoulder. Midoriya took the cue and followed him into the back yard.

It was a pleasant night as far as summer nights went. The moon was still high up, casting silver light on the grass.

'You want to talk?' Midoriya ventured tentatively from behind him.

'All this.' He shrugged one shoulder in the direction of the brightly lit communal room, not bothering to face Midoriya fully. 'Did you plan all this?'

'Ah, no. Everyone just sort of wants to throw you a party. We plan it together.'

'I see. And the wardrobe?' Shouto didn't need to turn around to know that Midoriya's face had turned bright red.

'That was Kirishima's idea. But we all pitched in so don't be mad at him!' Frantic hand waving. 'I tried to tell them not to take anything too brightly colored but they all thought it was a good chance to reinvent your wardrobe. It was such a terrible idea. And we went into your room without your permission. Oh god, we went into your room without permission! Your room! Without permission! I'm so sorry, Todoroki! I am terribly-'

'Midoriya.' Shouto cut in sharply and turned to face the other boy. He waited until Midoriya looked up from his bow and injected every bit of sincerity into his next words. 'Thank you.'

 _Thank you for helping me._

 _Thank you for not telling everyone._

 _Thank you for respecting my wish._

 _Thank you for caring._

Midoriya straightened from his bow and smiled brilliantly at him.

'You are very welcome.'

He hesitantly returned the smile with the upturn of his lips and marched back inside, Midoriya staying in the same pace as him.

—

'Should we wake him up?'

'Nah, let him sleep.'

'But it's going to be uncomfortable as hell.'

'No worries, I've got this. You two, push the sofa over here. _Quietly_.'

'I'm grabbing a pillow from my room.'

'Good idea.'

'There, that should do it.'

'Are we going to leave him alone down here?'

'No way! We're staying here and watching movies till dawn. Everyone with me?'

'Ayee!'

'So we should do some quick clean up then.

'Here, let me help.'

'Bakugou, move over if you're not gonna help.'

'HUH? WHO THE FUCK Y-UMPH UMPH.'

Rustle from the central sofa had them hold their breath but Todoroki just snuggled deeper into his blanket.

'Thank you Sero.'

'No prob.'

'Walk quietly everyone. We don't want to wake him up.'

* * *

 ** _AN: Shouto got me into BnhA. I don't regret my decision._**


End file.
